Man vs Wild

[Never in Balance]

I have been watching this show on the Discovery Channel called Man V's Wild. Basically its a show where they drop a guy off in the middle of no where and he must survive and make his way out.

I have noticed that he always seems to jump or skydive out of a helicopter on almost every episode, I’ve also noticed there are a lot of aerial shots. My question is, has anyone here been the pilot in one of the episodes and what was involved. What type of film crew do they use and is it one of those things where ‘the presenter is always surrounded by film crew and a catering van.’

Thanks
NiB

[Mark Six]

I think I've seen an episode from that show. The hero had to rappel out of a Jetranger because it was supposedly too dangerous to land because of the terrifying updrafts created by the desert heat. Yeah, much safer to hover at 100' and have some dude rappel down. Luckily the camera crew was already on the ground to capture the exciting footage. Presumably they also rappelled down with all their gear...

[Bolk]

Think this is Bear Grylls. Ex-SAS TA turned adventurer / presenter? If so, there was a fair bit of debate about the show last year in both the US and UK. Usual stuff. Looked like he spent the night dangling from his toenails halfway up El Capitan when he was actually in the local 5 star hotel.

Couldn't see the problem myself. It's TV and they make it as entertaining as possible. I enjoyed it. Mind you; who's that Canadian bloke who also has a show on discovery? He does do the whole thing on his own. Good effort:ok:

[IntheTin]

Bear Grylles show on discover is great to watch. Whether he stays the night in a tree or a 5 star hotel doesn't take away from what he does on the show. He ate a bug from inside the bark of a tree. He bit into it and the thing exploded with puss. He still ate it though. Later on he was climbing up a vertical cliff face he got the runs from eating said bug. He pulled his trousers down, while the guy still filmed.

The other guy is Survivorman. He has no crew with him and by the look of him in the morning I would say he sleeps in the bushes. Tough TV!!:D

[Bolk]

Survivorman...that was it. Les someone? Great stuff. Still enjoyed the Bear Grylls show though. Loved the 'this route may result in death or serious injury...let's give it a go!' moments...

[Mark Six]

Yep, that's the guy. My favourite bit was where he pi$$ed all over his scarf and then wrapped it around his head and face supposedly to help keep cool in the desert. Don't know what was more tasteless - a close up of the guy taking a pi$$ or seeing the results wrapped around his bollard.

[krypton_john]

There is one episode of the show where he has to make his way to civilisation after being dropped in the middle of nowhere in Africa.

At one point to get water, he squeezed the liquid out of elephant dung and drank it.

I am not kidding - here it is:
YouTube - Bear drinks elephant dung (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMtVfpGhzaw)

[Bravo73]

More of BG on youtube:

YouTube - Re: Man Vs. Wild, Bear Grylls is a Phony (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3UpSlpvb1is)


'Nuff said. :mad:

[krypton_john]

LOL! Whoops!

[helikiwi34]

ha ha,

more like Bear v BS,

:D

[Fun Police]

devils advocate here...
would he purposely endanger his life when all he has to do is make a point? would you?

i spend lots of time working in remote areas and if i find myself in a situation where my ELT and Bluesky Network have let me down and the pilot before me never packed a lunch therefore leaving the survival kit empty, then at least i might be able to find some maggots to eat.

les stroud ("the survivorman") might be less of a showman, but i don't think there is any harm in watching either program.

fly safe all
FP

[TheMonk]

<<SNIPPED>> by myself.

Monk

[Never in Balance]

So no one here has been the pilot for the filming of the show?

The last episode i saw he jumped up and grabbed the skid of a hovering 120 or 130 and pulled himself up into the chopper. Would have taken a bit to keep a steady hover with a 80+kg person grabbing on and pulling on your left skid.

NiB

[HeliDriverNZ]

I was going to fly him in a L3 in the Yukon Canada but they decided to use our 407 instead so the boss did it said he was really nice fella, its pretty well all staged and well planned he did 2 jumps on this occasion they also had a 206 for the aerial shots, After the jumps they shot into the mountains to slide down the hills. he also went down into a mine called Engineer mine on Tagish lake in Northern BC then scrambled down the llewellyn Glacier also in BC south of Atlin
All in all apparently it was a laugh

[nomorehelosforme]

Yes once again I've been watching too much TV, that aside, any of you guys flown him and any stories?

[Matari]

There are a few threads on rotorheads about him.

http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/347963-man-vs-wild.html

Then there's the real exciting one about him blowing over a bouncy castle. You'll have to search that one yourself.

[VH-XXX]

He is a fake (in my opinion and many others) :cool:

Allegedly when he was in Australia he wouldn't sleep outside in the desert because he was too scared of the snakes :ugh:

Catering van and crew are always right there when needed.

[EMS R22]

A friend of mine flew him around around in NZ. Picked him up before dark and took him back to his Hotel each night....

[TWT]

A bit difficult to charge the camera batteries in the wilderness overnight,so am not surprised they stay at hotels when they can.They're making a TV show,after all.No different to Top Gear.They have a massive entourage that you don't see on camera when they travel overseas to make sure it all hums along.

[cattletruck]

Mr Grylls started off teaching kids to love the outdoors and to build self confidence in themselves, the show came later and he actually felt he wasn't a suitable person for the job. Mr Grylls primary concern is teaching kids, the show is second.

Those too critical of him are probably too fat. I remember watching him describe these deep unpassable volcanic crevasses in Hawaii that ran for miles, yet at the bottom of the screen you could see that you could easily just step over it.

At least he's getting kids off feacesbook and outdoors - which should be applauded.

The helicopter is used to ferry equipment and support people to remote locations, so why not jump out of it to start the show (remember that building self confidence is what Mr Grylls is about).

I like the show even though I know it's mostly staged, however Mr Grylls (probably via his researchers) does impart some very useful knowledge without too much drama.

Those that know a thing or two about making television shows would see that the crew don't try real hard to cover up any technical no-no's, have you ever seen Steve Irwin's out takes, Steve was only doing it for his wildlife farm.

[JDJ]

If you want to see more of his stuff, do a search for "bear grylls everest flight" - the documentary was shown a couple of years ago I think. I worked on the soundtrack, and also several of the "Man v Wild" series,

JJ.

[SASless]

when he was in Australia he wouldn't sleep outside in the desert because he was too scared of the snakes

Curling up with Joe No Shoulders in Oz could be a rather fatal encounter....sticking to Five Stars and Down Duvets sounds quite sensical to me!